He opened his senses to the building, picking up residual energy. Luigsech’s, nothing else he could identify, as someone like Cavan, but the woman was no longer here.
Daegan called to Quinn, alerting him to prepare Reese for teleporting. He rushed back to the front room just as those two reappeared.
Reese grabbed Quinn’s arm, weaving where she stood.
Quinn glanced at her hand as if unsure if he should acknowledge her touch. “Would you like something to drink, Reese?”
She shook her head, “No, thanks. I’m good.”
When he patted her hand, her gaze shot to his fingers. She snatched hers back to her chest. They stared at each other for a second then Quinn went into mission mode. “Where do you wish Reese to begin?”
Sounding relieved to move ahead, Reese asked, “You remember how my remote viewing works, right, Daegan?”
“Yes, I do.” Daegan shook off his distraction from that first noise to stay on point and find Tristan. He didn’t know the extent of Reese’s gift, but he understood how it had worked in the past. The best result would be based upon finding a specific place in this building Luigsech had used recently.
“To answer your question, Quinn, I have no idea what spot would work best. I wish to determine if Luigsech has been here since I saw her last night, and if Cavan has been as well, though I have picked up no other recent power signature.”
Angling his head at that, Quinn asked, “You picked up Luigsech’s?”
“Yes, but I have no idea if ’tis from this mornin’ or yesterday. She had not left a strong energy residue here as she did last night after battlin’ the Imortiks. If she has been here since then, she may have shielded her power.”
“Good to know.” Reese sounded as if she’d caught her second wind. “Here are my thoughts. You two should spread out and see what you can find to get me set up faster, but what about people coming past the window and door?”
“I have shielded us inside here.” Daegan moved to allow Quinn to step past him to where one of two desks sat in an L positioning. Quinn paused in front of the one closest to the door and studied it.
Reese remained in the middle of the room with her arms crossed. “I’m not Nancy Drew, so I’ll just stay out of the way and let you two do whatever you’re doing.”
“Who is Nancy?” Daegan had never heard of this female.
Quinn snorted. “A storybook female detective. We’ve got this, Reese.” Turning back to the desk where he carefully moved documents and opened drawers, Quinn suggested, “This appears to be the desk of the person who greets visitors.”
“Might be where the Fenella woman sits,” Daegan commented.
Luigsech’s scent surrounded the other desk he stood nearer. He’d been trying to ignore her scent, but hadn’t been able to since leaving her cottage.
His gaze traveled over the room and stopped at cut yellow flowers in a glass vase in the corner. Ah, now he identified the coconut smell of aiteann. He’d thought nothing of the yellow flowers as he’d seen a few yesterday, but now the image and smell took him back thousands of years to when he’d grown up running through fields covered in the same flowers.
Luigsech had those planted around her cottage.
But he singled out her unique scent.
He allowed his nose to lead him to the right side of the room as he faced the door. The wall behind the desk where Quinn stood ran from the narrow opening to the massive library in the back.
He stepped through the opening and paused, noting a stronger hint of Luigsech in this spot, but mixed with smells of aged leather and ink.
She spent her time here. Every day or maybe only recently?
The wall behind the central desk Quinn dug through had been created by the backside of a heavy bookcase. This area needed light for anyone wishing to read the many oddly-shaped books that appeared to have been written over many centuries.
These books and the aged smell brought back memories of his da’s reading room where he’d learned to read. Good memories from too short a life.
This was not the time to be distracted.
Returning to the front, Daegan checked on Reese who had moved to a chair near the window, evidently tired of standing while they determined a place for her to start.
Quinn looked up. “I believe this desk belongs to a woman named Fenella, just as you suspected. From what I can determine, she handles correspondence and has a stack of potential work for Casidhe Luigsech. That would lead me to believe the desk near you is Miss Luigsech’s.”
That confirmed what Daegan had surmised simply by her scent clinging to the furniture.
Quinn joined him and stared at the messier side of the room. “Why have that old chair next to the desk? It doesn’t match the ones like Reese is sitting on, which appear to be for guests.”
Daegan examined the worn leather chair with a small dark-wood table on one side with a standing lamp secured on the backside. Another wider table on the opposite side of the chair allowed more room, probably for books. Clean cloths folded into squares sat on the lamp table with a note pad and pen.
Daegan deferred to Quinn who had lived in this modern world longer than him. “What do ya see?”
Quinn gave the chair a long look. “You said Luigsech is the one who translates very old text. Now that I consider her everyday work, I can see her spending more time reading in a place where she's comfortable for hours. I see her only utilizing the desk for things like correspondence or limited research work. Something requiring shorter periods of time. I say we start there.”
This was why Daegan believed in surrounding himself with capable people and allowing them the freedom to work.
Daegan took in Reese’s pale skin. Could she do this without harming herself? She tended to bristle whenever Quinn inquired regarding her health. He’d
